


lines of despondency and madness

by MiniNephthys



Category: Satsuriku no Tenshi | Angel of Slaughter, Uncommon Time (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Murder Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 15:30:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6121009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Body discovery and confession in the murder of Rachel Gardner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	lines of despondency and madness

**Author's Note:**

> This is mostly about Zack and Ray in a murder game scenario but I needed a third, different fandom character to commentate, so thanks Saki, you've been co-opted.

Saki can’t claim to know Isaac Foster particularly well. They’ve only spoken a handful of times at any length, despite being trapped in this miserable place together for weeks. By all appearances, he’s a detestable individual, coarse, violent, rude, and not easily prone to kindness… to anyone but Rachel Gardner.

So when it’s Ray’s turn to turn up one Friday morning with a cut throat, cold and motionless in one of the church pews, Saki isn’t sure how Zack is going to react. There’s a very good chance he won’t wait for an investigation and will simply decide to murder them all on the spot in order to get at the person who killed her.

When Zack does show up at the church, however, he goes uncharacteristically silent the moment he sees her body. (Saki remembers him saying at an earlier murder scene to someone in hysterical denial that he knew what a dead body looked like.) He takes halting steps towards her, kneels, and takes her hands in his own, squeezing them tightly.

“Ray… Damn you, Ray, it ain’t supposed to be like this...” His voice is soft enough that Saki can only barely make out the words.

Saki leaves him to her. He and the others who first arrived have done enough investigation of the scene already, and they ought to have some time alone.

* * *

At the trial, Saki is almost finished pulling his layers of clothing back on when Zack clears his throat. “So it’s just me that has to do the strip search now, right? Do I have to take the bandages off? ‘Cause they’re a pain.”

“There isn’t any need.” Saki’s muffled slightly by pulling his dress over his head. “If none of the rest of us are injured, even if you aren’t injured at all… Then the bandages we found would be bandages you were already wearing, that happened to get blood on them. It must be you.”

There are murmurs of discomfort from the others.

“You think I killed her?” Zack asks, scowling. “That’s a pretty cruel accusation to go throwing around about somebody’s friend.”

“I’ve never heard you refer to her as a friend until this moment,” Saki replies. “Strangely convenient for you.”

Zack flinches. “Yeah, well - that’s ‘cause I’m an idiot who doesn’t appreciate what he’s got, not ‘cause...”

“We found no signs of a struggle or Rachel fighting back, and we’ve checked everyone else thoroughly.” Saki’s smile is thin. “Why would any of us be wearing bandages if we are all uninjured? You must know they make poor fashion accessories.”

Zack grits his teeth for a moment, then looks away, to Ray’s unoccupied podium.

“...She finally asked me to do it.”

That’s something Saki hadn’t expected to hear. His smile slips, and he waits for Zack to go on.

“We had a promise - that I’d definitely be the one to kill her when she asked me to. It’s fucked up, y’don’t have to tell me it is, but it kept us both alive for a long time. Thursday night she told me to come to the church, and…” Zack swallows, and his voice shakes. “This ain’t how it was supposed to turn out, damn it, this ain’t what I wanted! Why the hell’d she ask me to do that just ‘cause some creep wants us to kill each other, it was supposed to be when she wanted to die…!”

Saki isn’t sure he understands all of the details, but his voice is somewhat gentler when he speaks again. “She must have wanted you to escape more than she wanted to survive.”

Zack turns his back, though it doesn’t do much to hide that he’s rubbing at his eyes. “She’s got shit priorities. Nobody oughtta be dying just to get me out of here.”

“It was her decision.” Saki pauses. “Thank you for being honest. I would hate to send a person to their grave believing them to be cold enough to murder their own friend.”

“I’m a coldhearted serial killer,” Zack snaps. “I like seeing happy people scream in despair right before I slaughter ‘em! Ray’s just different, but it doesn’t make me a nice guy.”

At this point, it no longer matters what Zack does: he’s going to be executed in a few minutes. So Saki declines to comment on that part. “I’m sure she’ll forgive you for failing to get away with it,” he says.

“...guess she will.”


End file.
